Backing sheet for building insulating materials



Nov. 18, 1 941. D. B. WHEELER ET AL BACKING SHEET FOR BUILDINGINSULATING MATERIALS Filed May 24, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l g wc/nlmsDO/VHLD B. h HEELEK Jswas D. Germ/v $34 ZA 1941- D. B. WHEELER ETALBACKING SHEET FOR BUILDING INSULATING MATERIALS Filed May 24, 1938 2Sheets-Sheet 2 HLD 5. WEELER Patented Nov. 18,1941

BACKING SHEET FOR BUILDING INSULATING MATERIALS Donald B. Wheeler,Hudson Falls; and James I). Griffin, Harrison, N. Y., assignorsto UnionBag & Paper Corporation *ludson Falls, N. Y., a corporation of NewJersey Application May 24, 1938, Serial No. 209,830

(01. ill-70) 7 Claims.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide .a sheet ofpaper or similar material having a coating applied thereto which issubstantially non-tacky at any ordinary atmospheric temperature butwhich is capable of being rendered adhesive when heated to'anappropriate temperature, and after cooling will efiectivell maintain itsadhesive properties through all' ranges of atmospheric temperatures.

It is a more particular object to provide a sheet of this characterhaving a coating applied thereto which is of such a composition that itwill not crack or lose its adhesive properties within the limits oftemperature from sub-zero to summer heat and which, when applied to thesheet will permit winding of the sheet into a roll without transfer ofthe composition from the face of the sheet to the back of the adjacentconvolutlons thereof.

Another object is to provide a flexible sheet of paper or the likehaving a waterproof composition applied to one side thereof and which iscapable of being rendered adhesive by the application of heat thereto,such composition being ribbed to facilitate application of the sheet toother objects or surfaces for adhesive attachment thereto, the marginaledges of the sheet being free of the composition, or substantially so,to render them readily foldable relatively to the body of the sheet, theback of the sheet being preferably also treated to further increase itsmoisture proof qual'ties.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel processofproducing a sheet having the I at a suitable temperature, thecomposition ap-.

plied to the sheet providing protection to the insulating materialagainst saturation with moisture from wet plaster when applied to thewall and preventing the passage of air, thereby improving theeifectiveness of the insulating material, and the sheet serving as ameans for holding the insulating material in place, the edges of thesheet extending beyond the insulating material so that they may beapplied and secured to studding or other wall supports.

The invention is set forth more particularly with reference 'to theaccompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus suitable for use inproviding a sheet according to the presentinvention;

Figure 2 a detail view of the doctor blade which forms ribs in thecomposition applied to the sheet;

Figure 3 is a side view of the doctor blade; t

Figure 4 is a face view-of a portion of a strip having the compositionapplied thereto;

Figure5 is a cross section of the strip taken on theline 5-5inFig.4; 1

Figure 6 is a face view of the strip showing the manner of slitting itlongitudinally to form a plurality of strips and of turning theedges ofthese strips inwardly; r

Figure 7 is a section taken diametrically through a roll of thematerial; 1

Figure 8 is a perspective view of a completed sheet made in accordancewith the present in-' vention: .fj

Figure 9 is a side elevation ofan' apparatus suitable for use inapplying the strip adhesively to a strip of insulating material; I

Figure 10 is a perspective view showings has of insulating materialhaving the sheet applied" adhesively thereto; and r Figure 11 is aperspective view showing the mannerof installing and securing the sbattin placeinawall. I I V Similar parts are designated by the samereferencecharacters in the different figures. A

In carrying out the present invention according to the preferredprocess, the continuous strip A of base material, which may be anycellulosic paper but is preferably kraft paper, is supplied from a rollID to a heating drum II, which may be heated by steam or othersuitableheating means and which pre-heats the sheet, and the sheet is;then directed by guide rollers l2 and I3 to a coating roll ll, the sheetpassing over the upper side of this roll the lower side of which isimmersed in a bath of the treating composition which is'contained in atreating tank l5 and fills the same to the level indicated at X.

The composition contained in the tank 15 and which is applied to theentire lower surface of the travelling strip by, the roll I4, is onevwhich will be liquid when heated to a temperature ranging between 300and 360 F. and when cooled to any ordinary atmospheric temperature willsolidify and be substantially non-tacky and waterproof, and when heatedafter being applied will possess good adhesive properties. It preferablyconsists of a bituminous composition composed of a mixture of montanpitch and an asphalt or a pitch. The composition is composed preferablyof the following mixture:

50% montan pitch. in its unrefined or raw state.

50% asphalt, i4 penetration petroleum base.

having a melting point of 290 to 300 F.

Melting point according to Kramerthe composition on the strip into ribsand to provide substantially uncoated longitudinal areas on the strip.In the present instance, the strip passing through the apparatus isintended to be slitted longitudinally to form two sheets, and the doctorblade is accordingly formed on its upper edge with two sets of ribs I8and 18, one set for each sheet to be produced, these ribs being pref-The asphalt preferably employed and which is available on the marketaccording to specifications is a petroleum base asphalt which ispreferably air-blown so that it is free from water or decompositionproducts, has a specific gravity at 77 F. of not less than 1.003 and amelting point (ball and ring method) not lower than 275 F. and nothigher than 300 1". and a flash point, when determined by the Clevelandopen cup method, not lower than 500 1''. and is soluble in C..P. carbonbisulphide or cold carbon tetrachloride to the extent of at least 99.5%and soluble in 86 degrees 36. Pennsylvania paraifine naphtha to theextent of not less than 56.0% and not more than 66.0%. Its penetration(Dow method) usin a No. 2 needle is as follows:

At 32 F. 60sec. 200 grams weight, not less than 5; At 77 F. 5 sec. 100grams weight, not less than 7 nor more than 13; Atfilgl5 F. 5 sec. 50grams weight, not more than Fifty gramsof the material upon beingmaintained at a uniform temperature of 325 1''. for nve hours in acylindrical vessel 2?; inches in diameter and 1% inches high should notlose more than 0.4% by weight.

In place of the asphalt, stearine pitch may be employed in thecomposition, in the same proportion with the montan pitch as statedabove.

Such stearine pitch may be mixed with prefermm to produce an evencoating on the paper without undue penetration of the composition intothe. paper, a temperature of about 320 1". being preferable when thecomposition is applied to kraft paper. Any suitable means may beprovided for thus heating the composition in-the tank ll, electric airheating units is being shown for example.

' The strip of paper having its entire lower surface coated with thecomposition by the coating roll ll, passesfrom said roll over a doctorblade II the upper edge of which is adapted to form erably inclined inopposite directions, as shown in Fig. 2, so that as the strip passesover the doctor blade, the sets of ribs thereon will form correspondingsets of ribs 0. and a in the composition on the strip, the areas of thepaper strip intervening the ribs being preferably scraped clear of thecomposition, or substantially so, and the middle and end portions 20 and20 respectively of the doctor blade lying in the same plane with thetops of the ribs l0 and is so that these portions of the doctor bladewill scrape the middle and marginal portions (1. and a and arespectively clear, or substantially so, of the composition. By

inclining the sets of ribs l8 and I! in reverse directions, they willact to stretch the strip laterally toward its side edges and thusmaintain it under tension transversely as it advances, thereby avoidingthe formation of pleats in the strip or 13deflection of the sheet ineither direction latera1 After passing over the doctor blade II, thesheet having the hot composition on one side thereof, is immediatelycooled and thereby hardened or set sumciently to prevent unduepenetration of the composition into the sheet, by passing the sheetaround a cooling drum 2i, and the sheet is then coated on its other sidewith a suitable waterproof wax to further increase its vapor andwaterproof properties. This is accomplished by passing the sheet over awax applying roll 22 which is mounted in the upper part of a wax tank 23containing a wax, preferably *parafline, which is maintained in a liquidstate by heating it to a temperature of from about 128 to 130 F. bysuitable meanssuch for example as a steam coil 24, the roll 22 dippinginto the molten wax, and the surplus wax is removed from the sheet by adoctor blade 25 which scrapes the waxed surface evenly so as to leave aneven coating of the wax on the sheet.

The sheet, immediately after the wax coating has been applied thereto,is cooled to harden or set the wax on one side as well as thecomposition on its other side by passing around a cooling drum I6, andit then passes beneath a slitter 21 which slits the strip longitudinallyto form it,

for example, into two strips divided by the median longitudinal dottedline in Fig. 4,-and these strips then pass over formers 28 which, asshown in Fig. 6, are each of a width corresponding approximately to thewidth of the ribbed composition thereon, the upper endsof these formersbeing curved and the formers inclined, as shown in Fig. 1, so that thelongitudinal edges of each subdivided strip, as it passes. onto itsformer, will fold downwardly and inwardly toward the lower or waxed sidethereof.

Each of the subdivided strips with its longitudinal edges as thus turnedand folded, is wound into a roll A' by any suitable means such forexample as a pair of winding drums 20 and 30 which may be driven in anysuitablemanner and serve to support and drive-the respective roll by itsedges, as shown in Fig. 7, the folded or doubled edges of the sheetswhich form the rolls providing hard ends on the rolls to reston thewinding drums and thereby protecting the intermediate portions of theroll containing the composition from pressure from these drums.

Paper or other flexible material treated according to the presentinvention is highly flexible and the adhesive composition appliedthereto is substantially non-tacky at all ordinary atmospherictemperatures but is rendered highly adhesive when heated to a suitablyhigher temperature, such as a temperature ranging between 175 and 275 F.and it will not crack or lose its adhesive properties within thelimitsof or shipment, transfer of the composition on the strip from theface of one convolution to the back of another being further preventedby the folding in of the longitudinal edges of the strip prior to thewinding thereof, the double thickness of the strip at the ends of "the.011 thus providing hard or solid ends for the roll and leaving theintermediate adhesively coated portion of the roll soft andrfree ofpressure. Moreover, the wax coating applied to the back of the stripwill prevent sticking of the composition treated side of the strip tothe back thereof when wound into a roll as well as enhance the moistureproof and vapor proof properties of the finished sheets.

In applying strips or sheets provided by the present invention to heatinsulating material such as used in building construction, the strip Ahaving the adhesive composition thereon may be conveniently applied, forexample, to a strip 3| of rock wool, glass wool or other insulatingmaterial suitably fed from a storage bin 32 as shown in Fig. 9, thestrip A of paper or the like havingthe adhesive composition thereonbeing supplied from the roll A and fed around a roll 34 so that theribbed composition treated side of the strip is applied against theinsulating material, the roll 34 being suitably heated so that heat isapplied to the strip at a sufliciently high tem- -perature, as withinthe range hereinbefore stated, to soften the composition and render itviscous. The heated adhesive strip and the strip 3| of rock wool or thelike are then pressed together, as by passing them between a series ofpress rolls 35, and the strips A and 3| are then cooled to ordinarytemperature, as by passing them through a chamber 36 which may be aircooled; and the strips may be finally cut oil into batts of the desiredlength, as shown for example in Fig. 10. Upon cooling to ordinaryatmospheric temperature, the composition on the sheet A will adhesivelysecure the batt 3| thereto.

The edges such as a! and a of the sheet A, which are uncoated with thecomposition, preferably project beyond the edges of the batt 3iand areleft free so that when the batt is placed in position in a wall, asshown in Fig. 11, these edges of the sheet may be extended and nailed orotherwise secured to the studding 31, thus holding the insulatingmaterial in place in a wall. When used in this'way, the composition onthe sheet serves not only to secure it to the insulating material but italso provides a moistureproof backing for the insulating material whichwill.

protect it against saturation with moisture from fresh plaster appliedto the wall, and the sheet will assist the insulating material ininsulating heated, which comprises applying to the entire the wall bypreventing circulation of air through the wall.

It has been found that by providing the sheet with the adhesivecomposition the surface of which is ribbed, a more effective bond isobtained betw n the sheet and the insulating material, espe ially whenfibrous or filamentarymaterial such as rock wool or glass wool isapplied thereto, than is obtainable with an adhesive havinga fiatsurface, since the fibres or filaments of such insulating material willsettle into the softened ribs when applied thereto.

' We claim as our invention:

-1. The process of producing a sheet of flexible water-proof materialpossessing adhesive properties when heated, which comprises applying tothe entire" surface of a strip of cellulosic material, a coating of anormally solid heat sensitive mixture of substantially equal proportionsof montan pitch and an adhesive substance selected from the groupconsisting of an asphalt and stearine pitch while heated to atemperature sufficient to liquefy it, forming the coating thus appliedto the strip, while sufficiently cooled to become plastic, 'lnto ribs,and then cooling the coating to harden it.

2. The process of producing a sheet of flexible water-proof materialpossessing adhesive properties when heated, which comprises applying totheentire surface of a strip of cellulosic material a coating of-anormally solid heat sensitive mixture of substantially equal proportionsof montan pitch and an adhesive substance selected from the groupconsisting of an asphalt and stearine pitch while heated to atemperature sufficient to liquefy it, cooling the coating sufllclentlyto render it plastic, forming the coating thus applied to the strip intoribs and simultaneously removing the coating from marginal edges of thestrip while the coating is plastic, and then cooling the coating toharden it.

3. The process of producing a sheet of flexible material possessingadhesive properties when heated, which comprises applying to the surfaceof a strip of material a coating of a normally solid heat sensitivemixture while heated to a temperature sufficient to liquefy it, saidmixture being adhesive when heated but substantially .non-tacky atordinary atmospheric temperature,

removing the coating, while cooled sufllciently to become plastic, frommarginal edges of the strip, folding said edges ,of the strip inwardly,and then forming the strip into a roll.

4. The process of producing a sheet of flexible material possessingadhesive properties when suriace of a strip of material a coating of anormally solid heat sensitive mixture while heated to a temperaturesuflicient to liquefy it, said mixture being adhesive when heated butsubstantially non-tacky at ordinary temperature, forming the appliedcoating into ribs and simultaneously removing the coating from marginalportions of the strip while said coating is cooled suf- 4- aaespoo atordinary temperature, forming the applied coating into ribs andsimultaneously removing the coating from marginal portions of the stripwhile said coating is cooled suiilciently to become plastic, applying acoating oi wax to the opposite surface of the strip, cooling the stripsufliciently to harden both of said coatings, folding the marginal edgesof the strip inwardly, and forming the strip into a roll. 7

6. A sheet or" flexible waterprooi material posadhesive properties whenheated. comprising a sheet oi cellulosic material having applied to asurface thereof a ribbed coating of a normally solid heat sensitivemixture of substantially equal proportions oi montan pitch and asubstance selected from the group consisting of an asphalt and stearinepitch which is substantially non-tacky at ordinary atmospherictemperatures but is adhesive above such temperagroup consisting of anasphalt and stearine pitch applied to a surface thereof in an areaspaced inwardly from edges thereof.

DONALD B. WHEELER. JAMES D. GRIFFIN.

